Jester
by Hayaki
Summary: An old man, chained by the sins of his past. The old generation, lost to the vestiges of time. A new generation, oblivious to his decisions that changed the world. Was he a hero? Or was he a villain? The history is unclear, and his mind is just as foggy. His only solace lies in telling stories that his aged self can not remember.
1. Pianissimo

**AN:** Hey! I'm not dead! Yeah, nope. For those of you wondering about the almost month of inactivity it's because I just wanted get through some of my huge backlog of games. Anyways, I wasn't completely out of commission during the whole winter break. I did a bunch of practice, and I also have quite a few prototype ideas for stories. This is one of the prototypes in fact. Well, this is mostly just used for a status update for now as I work on DRE and my other stories.

* * *

"Grandpa, grandpa! Please tell us another story!"

Yep, right on time. Chuckling to myself, I put down my mug of steaming hot coffee before leaning back in my rocking chair to wait for the little pair of Devils that are currently thundering up the stairs to my room. They certainly have taken a liking to this old bag of bones.

"Grandpa!"

A small red blur blew open the door and shot across the room at breakneck speed before grinding to a halt right in front of me. A couple of seconds later, another red head peeked around the doorway. I gestured for the boy to come in as his twin sister plopped herself on my lap.

"Well now, Lilli, Zef, it's nice to see you two again," I greeted as I stroked their heads.

"Ehehe~. Lilli was super excited to come visit you again! Right Zef?"

"R-right."

As Lilli chattered onward about how good she had been over this past week, a knock on the door drew my attention away from the little chatterbox.

I smiled as I saw the young couple standing in the doorway.

"It's nice to see you two as well," I said. "Leo, Tabitha."

"Sorry, dad," my son sheepishly scratched at his wild, red hair. "Lilli ran off before we knew it."

"Hahahaha! Don't worry about it, kid. I'll watch over these two rascals."

"Jeez, father. You're always spoiling them so much," Tabitha complained with a huff.

"I can't help it! I finally have some grandchildren to play with. Isn't that every dad's dream?"

Leo sighed and shook his head exasperatedly with a defeated smile. "Well, we'll leave them to you, then. Be good, you two, okay?"

"Okaaay!"

"Right..!"

And with that, they left us alone to our devices. Ah… Sure reminds me of when I was young. Mhm. It's good to see that once stupid son of mine got himself a nice, beautiful wife.

"Well, kids. What story do you want to hear today?"

"An amazing story about magic, princesses, and love!" Lilli exclaimed excitedly.

"Um… I'm fine with anything."

Hm… If that's the case…

"Then," I began. "How about I tell you an old story about a foolish, young jester who fell in love with an equally as foolish princess?"

A long, long, long time ago, there was a princess with the most vibrant red hair in the world. She was cheerful, and had almost everything she could ever want, but one day, she lost her favourite toy: A little teddy bear named Pierre. She searched and searched, all over the massive castle. In her closet, under her bed, in the kitchen cupboards, under the dining table, around the garden, and the list drags on, but she just couldn't find him. He was her most precious friend, you see? So it broke her heart to not have been able to find him. She looked around for the entire day, but she still couldn't find him.

That's when the jester showed up. When the young princess was lying alone, and crying in bed, the merry, merry, jester appeared in front of her, donned with a white porcelain mask. At first, the princess was scared, terrified, of the strange man that was in front of her. That is until the jester stretched out his hand and made pretty little flowers sprout from it. Without uttering a word, the jester urged the little princess to take the flowers. She was hesitant at first, but she did as she was told.

But! When she pulled on the flowers, the jester's entire hand came off! The jester danced around the room clutching at the stump like a headless chicken as the princess tried to register what just happened. The young princess was horrified and was about to scream, but seeing this, the jester simply waved his arm in front of a face and a new hand popped up out of nowhere.

At first, the princess didn't know how to react, but then she began giggling. That giggling soon turned into a full-blown laughing fit. Now, you may be thinking that it wasn't really that funny, but that isn't why the princess was laughing. No. Not because it was funny, but because he made her forget about her sadness.

That was the day where she met her new best friend whom she called, Pierrot. He played with her and entertained her every day from that day on. However, the little princess was the only one who could see the jester. The maids and butlers couldn't, and nor could her family. The little princess was the only one who could.

Why you ask? Well, the jester never told. He kept it a secret from her for a very, very long time. In fact, he never even said a single word for a very, very long time.

So, as time went on, the jester stayed by the princess' side, never leaving her for anything. Of course, as the princess grew older, she began to question his existence. She wondered if he was really real, but every time she asked, he simply shrugged off the question with that permanent smile of his. Day, and night, they stayed together having all sorts of fun. They would play games in the day, and when night fell they would quietly dance around like a pair of fools until the princess could not keep her eyes open any longer.

Ever since she had met Pierrot, the princess had never been sad ever again.

"Really? That's amazing! Did he cast some kind of spell on her?" Lilli interrupted.

I shook my head. "Oh, no, no, no. None of the tricks Pierrot used ever involved magic. It was all done through his own skill. Now, back to the story."

But… when the once little princess turned into a beautiful young woman, she started having feelings for this mysterious jester known as Pierrot. Having spent every waking moment with him caused her to care for him more than anybody else. This made the jester's job complicated. After all, he was a mere clown. How could he ever hope to stand on the same pedestal of a princess? He couldn't stop, though. He had to keep making the princess happy, and prevent her from being sad, but he also couldn't return those feelings she had for him.

No matter how much she pleaded him, he would always respond with a single, silent shake of his head with his ever present smile. This made the princess frustrated and angry.

"Why?!" She yelled. "Why don't you talk?! Please! Just give me a reason!"

Once again, he responded in the same way.

"You… You… You jerk!"

Grabbing a nearby vase, she threw it as hard as she could at the jester before storming off.

The jester did not move out of the way of the flying projectile. No, it was more like he couldn't. The vase smashed against his head, cracked his spotless, beautiful mask, and sent him to the ground in a crumpled heap. Flower petals were scattered all around his body along with shards of the broken vase. A thin trickle of blood seeped out of the crack in his mask and ran down the side of his face, mixing with the water that had splashed all over him. The water made it seem like tears were running down his mask, but the smile had not shattered.

Picking himself up and dusting himself off as much as he could, he produced a new mask from out of thin air and quickly swapped the cracked one with the new one. It was just as immaculate with the same details as the last one, but there was a slight difference to it. The grin was no longer as wide as before, but it was barely perceptible to the naked eye. With himself fixed up as well as he can, he went off to search for his princess.

"Kids! It's time for lunch!" Tabitha's voice called up from downstairs, interrupting our little story session.

"Well, run along now, then. Don't keep your mother waiting."

"Aww… but we wanna hear more, grandpa!" Lilli complained, her small pigtails bouncing up and down as she pleaded for some more time.

"There, there. Lilli. Your grandpa's not going anywhere. Come on. I'll tell you more after you eat. Okay?"

"Alright…"

Although dejected, the little girl complied and ran out of the room at full speed while her twin brother followed silently along. Once again, I relaxed backwards into my rocking chair before taking a sip of my untouched coffee.

Hm… It's cold.


	2. Crescendo

**AN:** A fairly boring chapter, but it sets up for the big finale of this short series. That's right. A grand total of three chapters. Anyways, DRE is still in the works. I'm still trying to figure out how to end the Holy Sword arc. I've probably gone through like ten different scrapped ideas. With that out of the way, please try to enjoy this world/character building chapter.

* * *

Ah… I swear. My wife's cooking is just golden. Cleaning off the last scraps from my plate, I set it aside and waited patiently for the kids to come back. In my old age, I had lost a lot of my strength. A lot of the time I just sit here in front of the fireplace on my favourite chair just reminiscing about days gone by. It's almost surreal to think that I used to joke about old farts always wasting their days away wishing they were young again, and now here I am. One of the old farts.

Staring into the burning embers of the fireplace, I let my mind wander. Life was easy and fun back then. Sure, there were a lot of bumps and hiccups in the road, but we were ignorant for the most part. We were blind to the world's evils. We saw everything in just black, and white. Boy did we learn, though. Or rather, they did. I already knew, and yet, I chose to just live in the same peaceful ignorance as them. Maybe if I hadn't then things would've been different. We wouldn't have suffered as much.

Reaching out my old, withered, hand, I examined the many wrinkles and creases running across it. I gave a short, bitter, laugh. An old man drowning in his sorrows. Always wishing he had done something different. Always wishing he could go back into the past and change things.

But no. It's all done now. Soon enough my life will come to an end with my heart full of regrets.

Sighing, I leaned back into my rocking chair. Through my aged ears I picked up the sound of two pairs of feet pitter-pattering their way towards my room. Well, they certainly are excited.

"Grandpa!" Lilli yelled as she burst into my room and shot her way across and onto my lap.

Zef followed quickly behind before sitting himself down right next to her.

"Ah… Welcome back, you two. Are you ready for the continuation of the story?"

Lilli nodded excitedly, her small red pigtails bouncing up and down. "Yep! Zef and I ate aaaallll our vegetables so we could hear more!"

"My. Then I should get started right away, shouldn't I? Now… where was I…"

"You just got to the part where the princess hit poor Mr. Pierrot with a vase!"

"Ah… Yes. That's right. Let's skip ahead a few years, shall we?"

The princess, wanting to experience life outside of her kingdom, decided that she wanted to go to school in a small city. It was a fairly fancy school, but there were many different kinds of people there. By now, she had met a lot of very good friends that will last for the remainder of her life. These friends included a beautiful and mature shrine priestess, a valiant and courageous knight, an incredibly shy vampire and cute little kitten. Of course, Pierrot was still by her side every second of the day, and of course, none of the princess' other friends could see him either.

Then, one day, someone very interesting caught the princess' eye.

It was…

A dragon!

He was a very young and a very stupid dragon, but he was still a dragon nonetheless. That's why she devised a plan that would get this dragon to become her friend, and befriend it she did. You see, this dragon was so incredibly dumb that the very thought of treasure made him slobber at the mouth. All the princess had to do was to wait until the dragon was vulnerable so she could approach him, and then promise him that he could receive a very plentiful bounty of treasure if he became her friend.

And so, she began to train this dragon so he could reach his full potential. It took an extremely long time, and many, many hardships, but overtime the dragon became increasingly stronger. Soon after she befriended the dragon, she also became good friends with a young nun. And not long after that, she was faced with the very first trial in her life.

For a very long time she had been engaged to a prince from a neighbouring kingdom. The princess, however, wanted nothing to do with the foreign prince as she had not given up on her love for Pierrot. The only problem was that the marriage could potentially save both their kingdoms from ruin. The princess held strong though. She had always been an extremely stubborn girl. She refused and bargained with her mother and father, saying that she will not marry the prince.

Thus, both kingdoms presented her with a deal. If she and her friends could defeat the prince and his entourage in a duel, then the marriage would be called off, and the princess would be left to choose who she would marry. Seeing this as an opportunity, the princess readily agreed, not knowing what could happen as a result of her hasty decision.

The princess and her friends trained long and hard for the upcoming duel, but when the day came, they inevitably lost. It was a lost cause from the very beginning. They had no chance against the prince who had years of experience under his belt.

And then, because of her loss, she would have to marry the prince within the next few days. All the while, Pierrot could only stand by helplessly watching his precious one begin to get depressed. He was supposed to keep her happy! That was his job! And yet, he was powerless to do anything against the prince. I mean, what could an invisible friend do to a corporeal man?

So he wished. He wished, and wished with all of his heart that he could protect the princess from all forms of sadness.

"Please!" He cried out to the heavens. "Grant me the strength to guard the one I care about! Let me show the world that I am always there beside her!"

And through perseverance, his wish was granted.

On the day of the wedding, he appeared by her side, his white mask gleaming under the chandeliers. A chorus of gasps rang out throughout the ballroom as he appeared from a cloud of rainbow coloured smoke.

The jester had done it! His wish had come true, but what could he do now? He was still just one person. In the next moment, the guards had surrounded him with their weapons drawn. Things weren't looking well for the young jester. Slowly, slowly, the guards approached him; enclosing him in an inescapable prison.

What could he do? What did he do? Well, he did the one thing he could do best. He made a fool of himself. As he was surrounded, he couldn't move very well, but he didn't need to. What he did was reach into his costume, and pull out a red handkerchief.

Oh, but there was more. The red handkerchief was tied to a blue one. It didn't end there though. The jester continued to pull handkerchief after handkerchief out of his shirt until there was a pile reaching up to his knees on the ground. Then, when he finally reached the last one, he pulled out a small, deflated balloon along with it. Quickly blowing up the balloon as fast as he can through the mouth hole of his mask, he threw it up into the air.

At this point, everyone attending the party was staring questioningly at his performance. It was strange. What exactly was this fool doing? Well, he may not have been able to fight, but he did have cunning. As everybody stared at the ascending balloon, he quickly slipped past the guards and grabbed the princess' hand, and before anybody could notice, they ran.

The princess was happy, unbelievably happy, that her best friend had come to her rescue, and just as they reached the exit, the dragon burst in through the window with all of her other friends riding on top of him! They had all come to help her escape from the marriage. The merry group then proceeded to blast through the castle, scaring away all of the party attendees on their way to confront the prince, because even if they ran, the princess would just be found again. They had to stop the problem at its source.

When they reached the prince, he stood fearlessly against the dragon, sword in hand. The jester, not wanting any blood to be shed, stepped in between the two before they could begin fighting. It was a bold move that surprised the princess. But what he did next surprised her even more.

He spoke.

In a cheerful voice, he greeted the prince. "Hi-ho! Mr. Prince! I'm the jester known as Pierrot! I heard that you want to wed the princess, I did. But, oh no, no, no, no, no. We can't have that! She doesn't want it! There are plenty of pretty songbirds in the wide world. Why don't you search for one you truly love?"

"An empty marriage~, an empty marriage~," the jester sang. "Canst thou be truly, truly happy, truly? This one fool does not think so."

His song and dance continued as he twirled around the confused prince. "But why should you listen to this one little fool? The princess is the one you should listen to, dearest prince. After all, the flames of passion yet burn bright. However, it is not thou who will stoke the flames."

Ending his monologue with a pose, and a bow, the jester slowly receded behind the princess as she stepped up to the foreign prince.

"Sir prince," she said. "What my friend said is true. My heart has already been captured by somebody else. That is why I do not wish to marry you. If you have any sense of honour, then you shall call off the wedding."

The prince was at a loss for words. He did not expect that, after all.

"Who?" He asked. "Who is it?"

The princess was not sure what to do now. She could either tell him the truth, or she could lie about it. In the end, she chose to tell the truth. She explained to everyone who the unknown jester was, and told everyone about how much he meant to her.

It was a very touching speech that moved the hearts of everybody present. As a result, the prince decided to call off the marriage.

And thus, the merry group of misfits continued on their journey through life, facing many a hardship. Often times they would have to fight against the evils present in the world, but that did not deter them from enjoying what life had to offer to the fullest. As time went on, the group gained two more members. A former exorcist, and also a former valkyrie. It was certainly a very diverse group.

They went on many adventures together which, however, ended in a tragedy. The jester known as Pierrot perished. You see, during their journey, the jester would wish for more power. More power to protect the people he cared about, but every wish carried with them a heavy price. A price of which he had to pay eventually.

Shall I tell you what it was?

His happiness.

For each wish that was granted, a fraction of his own happiness was stolen, and yet, he still did not lose his energy nor his smile. Not even on his death bed did his mask ever shatter. And it was there, where the jester granted the princess the greatest present he could ever bestow her.

Nobody but the princess knows what that gift was, though. She kept it a secret with her for the rest of her life. Whatever it was, it caused her to have the brightest smile anyone had ever seen. Having done that, the jester passed on satisfied that he had done a good job. To this day, the jester known as Pierrot remains as an unsung hero known only to the people who personally knew him in life.

It was a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion to the story, but it seems that my mind can't exactly remember all of the details anymore. Looking down at the two children sitting on my lap, I noticed that Lilli's eyes were watering.

My, my. She certainly is a very emotional young girl. I lightly stroked the top of her head as she sniffled.

"So the princess and Pierrot never got together?" Lilli asked.

"Unfortunately, I don't know. Only the princess and he knows."

"But… The princess was happy, right?" Zef added.

"That's right. She did not regret a single moment spent with the jester."

"Then it's a happy ending, right grandpa?"

"That's right, Lilli. That's right."

Was it, now? It was… wasn't it? Everything I did was worth it, wasn't it?

Glancing out the window, I scanned the skyline of the empire I had built. Children of all sorts of different races: Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels, Vampires, and even Aliens were all playing together in the skies.

"Lilli! Zef! It's time for dinner!"

Ah… Is it that time already?

"Okay!" Lilli hopped off of my lap and happily bounded towards the door with Zef following behind her. "We'll be back soon, grandpa!"

"Hahaha! Alright, take your time you two. I'm not going anywhere."

Leaning back into my chair, I relaxed and closed my eyes. My friends… Tell me… Did I make the right choice? This world that I have shaped. Can this peace truly last?

Just as I was beginning to drift off I felt a spike, a fluctuation, of power outside my house. The signature was all too familiar.

"Old friend…" I mumbled.

It seems the time has come. I slowly rose from my chair and began making my way outside towards my final encounter.


End file.
